Bennie Bear Bride and Groom

One of my best friends recently got married, and she loves stuffed animals and handmade gifts. So as part of her gift, I made her 2 "Bennie Bears" (from the pattern that came with my AKB Tadpole) in her wedding colors (bright red and rust). I then decorated them as a bride and groom.

Both have tiny heart charms sewn inside their bodies. The "groom" has a black "bow tie" with a letter D - the first letter of the real groom's name - charm suspended from it. The "bride" has her initial suspended from a narrow white ribbon necklace.

The real trick was creating the bride's veil. I ended up using some Paton's Grace and knitted a tube of about 2 inches on a Knifty Knitter sock loom. I then switched to knitting a flat panel (all in e-wrap stitch, one over one) for another 2 inches. If you look very closely at the veil in the picture to the right, you can see where the switch happens - right around the bottom of her arms, where the veil broadens out into a trumpet shape. I used a triple crochet bind off, which gave me a lovely scalloped edge.

I wove about 6 inches of the same type of ribbon as I used for the "necklace" just below the top edge of the tube end of the veil. I pulled it closed and left the ribbon ends dangling as decoration. I then used a cheap hoop earring with a rhinestone to  decorate the gather, and sewed the veil on with a hidden bit of yarn.

Needless to say, the gift was a huge hit!